Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Talking of bankers, my current book is "Too Big to Fail".

Really, it's the tale of how the subprime crisis climaxed, but it's woven around one institution in particular - the once mighty Lehman Brothers. It really is a tremendous read, & I cannot recomend it highly enough. Moves along at a very fast lick, with short chapters within chapters. Superbly written, absolutely loved it, thrill a minute stuff. It is non-fiction, obviously.

The side story is how the New York Fed grappled to prevent a meltdown of Wall Street. Bear Stearn had been saved (but taken over) by pressure from the Fed, & bailout money, but further Government intervention was deemed inappropriate. It was decided that unless someone took over Lehman Brothers, it would be allowed to go into bankruptcy. Welcome to the Credit Crunch. Along the way, Bob Diamond of Barclays was keen to buy Lehman, but a deal could not be cut at the time, though, a year later, it was.

Along the way, the "Troubled Asset Relief Programme" - "TARP" for short, was created. It's a cracking name for bailout money.

The book's wiki page is here....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Big_to_Fail_%28book%29

It refers to an HBO film of the book. Anyone know where I could buy that film, or get to see it?

[tikay]

Prior to "Too Big to Fail", I read "Life", being Keith Richards Bio. Another stunning read.

We all have a preconception of Keith - drugs, degeneracy, da de da, but he's quite a surprise package.

He & Jagger have a sort of love hate thing going down. Mick wants to rub shoulders with the great & good, be a star, make pots of money, but for Keith, it is all about the music.

Sadly, along the way, he rather overindulged with the drugs, & he belatedly recognized that, & cleaned up his act - to a degree - & now seems to be in a nice place.

His love life has been extraordinary. Groupies every night, he does not deny that, but really, just two very long-term relationships, the first major one being with Anita, which was destroyed by her drug dependence. He had three kids by Anita (he never married her), but the third-born died aged three months. Oh, the pain.

He then took up with, & later married, Patti Hansen, with whom he fathered 2 more kids, both of whom are grown up now. As far as I know, he & Patti are still happily married. And they all lived happily ever after, aaahhh....

He lives rather well, presumably on the proceeds of his share of all the Stones Tours, & in addition, he & Jagger co-wrote 95% of all the material the Stones ever recorded. Considering they have been around for nigh on 50 years, that's some back-catalogue, & some royalty stream.

He has homes in St Tropez, West Sussex (he still owns Redlands, where the famous 1967 drug-bust with Marianne Faithful took place), Weston, Connecticut (where his Library is), & Jamaica, & the Turks & Cacaos.

I rarely appreciate heavy drug users, but Keith eventually mellowed, & I took a bit of a shine to him. I hope he stays around for a goodly while yet. Incidentally, he is 69 years old. Wow.

Highly recommended, if you have not read the book, try & get a copy. Its a thick tome, maybe 6-700 pages, but well worth the effort.

Hope you don't mind, but I can't resist posting a few Keith Richards photographs.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Easily my favourite Keith Richards photograph.....

[tikay]

This is Redlands, down in West Sussex.

Click to see full-size image.

[mulhuzz]

re too big to fail:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742683/

only released last year but seems to have been made for TV.

you may watch it online here: http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1733786/Too_Big_to_Fail/

[tikay]

The kids.....

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

re too big to fail:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1742683/

only released last year but seems to have been made for TV.

you may watch it online here: http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1733786/Too_Big_to_Fail/

Thanks Mully - but how would I get to watch it? Will it be on Sky Movies? Can I buy a DVD of it?

[mulhuzz]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

[tikay]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

Would a US version be UK compatible? I mean, would it work on my lappie?

EDIT - I now have your PM - ty ty ty. Say no more, Mum's the word.

[mulhuzz]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

Would a US version be UK compatible? I mean, would it work on my lappie?

you'd have to change the region of your lappy's DVD drive first (it will do this automatically for you - put the disc in and run it and it'll give you the option) but then to watch normal DVDs you'd have to change it back - you're 'allowed' to do this 3 times before the last selected region is 'stuck'.

[RED-DOG]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

Would a US version be UK compatible? I mean, would it work on my lappie?

you'd have to change the region of your lappy's DVD drive first (it will do this automatically for you - put the disc in and run it and it'll give you the option) but then to watch normal DVDs you'd have to change it back - you're 'allowed' to do this 3 times before the last selected region is 'stuck'.

If it can do something really useful like change back and forth to suit the region, why would they programme it to stop doing it after the third time?

[Laxie]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

Would a US version be UK compatible? I mean, would it work on my lappie?

you'd have to change the region of your lappy's DVD drive first (it will do this automatically for you - put the disc in and run it and it'll give you the option) but then to watch normal DVDs you'd have to change it back - you're 'allowed' to do this 3 times before the last selected region is 'stuck'.

If it can do something really useful like change back and forth to suit the region, why would they programme it to stop doing it after the third time?

That's always annoyed me, especially as I've family in America posting things over.  There was a VCR you could play both regions on without hassle or messing about.  It was brilliant!  Then they went and 'improved' things by bringing on DVD's.  [ ] Yay!

[Tonji]

I'd love to have a gander around the Keith Richard library. Sure to be an eclectic collection.

[mulhuzz]

you can buy a US version of the DVD here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=too+big+to+fail&x=0&y=0&sprefix=too+big+to+%2Caps%2C129

assuming they ship to the UK ofc...

seems like it's not released in the UK yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be...

Would a US version be UK compatible? I mean, would it work on my lappie?

you'd have to change the region of your lappy's DVD drive first (it will do this automatically for you - put the disc in and run it and it'll give you the option) but then to watch normal DVDs you'd have to change it back - you're 'allowed' to do this 3 times before the last selected region is 'stuck'.

If it can do something really useful like change back and forth to suit the region, why would they programme it to stop doing it after the third time?

to stop people buying the DVD in the US before the release in the UK in cinemas, I assume.

It would be most useful if they didn't have regions at all

[tikay]

I'd love to have a gander around the Keith Richard library. Sure to be an eclectic collection.

He says that one of his ambitions its to be a Librarian! Who'd have thunk.

From memory, his range of reading material was not at all what you might expoect - a lot of History, & that sort of stuff.

I'll have a poke around on the net & see if I can find what sort of stuff he has in the Library.